Buddha Rice Bowl with Ginger-Carrot Dressing

The first installment in simple, easy-to-prepare recipes for Denise – and all of you too, of course! This rice bowl comes from Aux Vivres, a wonderful veg restaurant in Montreal, Quebec. I’ve had the Buddha Bowl a few times…brown rice, steamed veggies, delicious Wafu carrot-ginger dressing, topped off with toasted pepitas. Yum!

So here’s the thing. This recipe has a few steps, but don’t be put off – the ingredients can be adapted to whatever you have on hand. Wait, did we just lose Denise? I hope not, this dish is soooo worth it. Don’t feel like making the homemade Wafu dressing? Fine…buy it or use the leftover sauces sitting in your fridge. Don’t want to marinate and grill tofu? Sure…buy something pre-made or use whatever leftover proteins you’ve got kicking around. You get the idea. And even better, Aux Vivres serves this warm rather than piping hot, which means if things cool down between preparation steps, no biggie.

And, if you’re still not convinced this is easy food to make, get your other sister to do it for you. I think both of mine will like this dish very much! Carrot-ginger Wafu dressing, by the way is amazing...check my lower-calorie homemade vegan version.

1 cup uncooked brown rice

1 x 450g firm tofu

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp oil, for grilling the tofu

4 cups broccoli stalks

1 large or 2 medium carrots

3 cups spinach

1 cup sprouts

¼ cup pepitas

1 recipe Ginger-Carrot dressing

Start cooking your rice, follow package instructions. In the meantime, slice tofu into 2” strips, and marinate in soy sauce and sesame oil while preparing remainder of ingredients.

Get a steamer basket ready – if you don’t have one, a microwavable container, a little water and plastic wrap will do just fine. Slice your broccoli stalks into large pieces, or whatever size is desirable for you. Place them in the steamer basket and steam for 4-5 minutes or until just tender. While the broccoli is cooking, shred your carrots – no need to cook them, they’ll be used raw. Once the broccoli is ready, remove from steamer basket and add the spinach. Keep the lid off, and let the spinach wilt for a minute or two while you prepare the tofu.

Heat a grill or frying pan over medium-high heat, add your oil and gently place the tofu strips in the pan. Discard the remainder soy sauce, or keep it to drizzle over your meal if desired. Grill the tofu until nicely browned. Remove from heat and put aside while prepping the serving bowls.

Place ¼ of the rice in the bottom of each serving bowl, and arrange tofu, broccoli, carrots, spinach and sprouts on top. Using a dry pan, toast pepitas over low heat, and then sprinkle them on top of each serving bowl.

Serve each bowl with ¼ of the Ginger-Carrot Dressing, either on the side (I used a shot glass for the pic!) or drizzle over the entire dish.

Per serving: 413 cals, 15g fat, 53g carbs, 596mg sodium, 7g fiber, 19g protein.  (PRO68.2/17%,CHO211/51%,FAT133/32%)